Strategy: ERP in 2012 and Beyond

You've heard the naysayers: ERP projects are being back-burnered, and the technology has become a burden to be off-loaded as quickly as possible. Don't believe it. Forrester Research projects that the global ERP market will grow from $45.5 billion this year to $50.3 billion in 2015, with the SaaS portion of that market--the long tail of ERP--growing at a 21% compound annual growth rate during the same period; the consultancy expects the SaaS market overall to be a $78.4 billion business by 2015. Our InformationWeek 2011 Enterprise Applications Survey shows just 16% of 274 respondents with direct or indirect responsibility for enterprise applications are looking to move away from conventional ERP vs. 31% saying a core ERP system is the main platform for running the business, and they want to build and extend initiatives around this platform.

Still, as upbeat as these forecasts are, there must be some basis for all the negativity, right? In this report, we'll investigate balanced ways to interpret dire predictions and examine the real changes on tap for ERP—and the business, technological and architectural implications. (S3911111)